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| All your news in a single email. We scour 100+ sources so you don't have to. Culture, science, sports, politics, business, and more - all packaged in a 5-minute read below. |
| Need To Know. |
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| Cyclone Ravages Mozambique. |
| A deadly cyclone that battered the coast of Mozambique before moving inland over the weekend has likely killed over 1,000 people, officials said yesterday. Cyclone Idai hit the East African country Thursday evening local time (see storm path) as a Category 2 storm - the official death toll initially stood at 84, but the full scope of the damage didn’t come into view until aid workers, slowed by poor roads and communication services, were able to assess the damage. The port city of Beira, home to over 530,000 people, was nearly 90% damaged or destroyed according to workers from the Red Cross (footage here). If the death toll is confirmed, the Idai would become the deadliest cyclone on record to hit Southern Africa. |
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| SCOTUS Struggles With Redistricting. |
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments yesterday in a case defending how Virginia drew its House of Delegates map. The case is the latest that questions the degree to which state electoral maps can be gerrymandered on a partisan basis - the High Court has effectively side-stepped the question to date - but in Virginia's case, Democrats allege the 2011 map packs black voters into fewer districts in an attempt to reduce their influence. A lower court previously required the map to be redrawn, and is currently planned for use in upcoming elections. A decision in the case, expected later this year, could tip the balance in Virginia for years to come - while Republicans hold a slim 51-49 majority in the House, the new map is expected to be more favorable to state Democrats.
Read about the long history of gerrymandering (and what it is) here. |
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| America Reaches Exascale. |
Officials from Intel and Argonne National Lab announced a joint partnership yesterday to build America's first exascale supercomputer. The massive computer, which will cost $500M and be finished by 2021, will be capable of performing a billion billion (or 10^18) calculations per second (explore more). The US has historically led the world in supercomputing power - which allows detailed modeling and simulation of systems ranging from supernovas, to weather patterns, to nuclear explosions. However, China unveiled a system in late 2017 that was five times faster than the leading US computer, and built from all-Chinese technology. Though the US subsequently retook the lead with Oak Ridge National Lab's Summit, all pale in comparison to the new system - dubbed Aurora - which will be five times faster than Summit.
See the top 500 most powerful computers in the world here. |
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| In The Know. |
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| Sports, Entertainment & Culture. |
| > Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara steps down in wake of claims that he pushed roles for actress Charlotte Kirk while they were romantically involved (More) |
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| > Baylor, Notre Dame, Louisville, and Mississippi State named #1 seeds in NCAA women's basketball tournament (More) | See complete women's bracket (More) |
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| > Mama June, Honey Boo Boo reality star, arrested on felony drug possession (More) |
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| Science & Technology. |
| > Stanford University launches Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, with emphasis on ethical questions; will seek to raise $1B (More) |
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| > Scientists find new evidence that humans may be sensitive to the Earth’s magnetic field; quick changes in magnetic field caused as much as 60% drop in alpha brain waves of test subjects (More) |
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| > Researchers confirm recovery of oldest known mariner’s astrolabe, a device used to measure a ship’s latitude; recovered from wreckage that was part of Vasco da Gama’s fleet (w/ video of discovery) (More) |
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| Business & Markets. |
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> Finance technology giant FIS to buy credit card transaction giant Worldpay for $43B (More)
> Deutsche Bank & Commerzbank, Germany's two biggest lenders, reportedly exploring merger; may result in 30k job losses (More) |
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> Tabloid magazine National Enquirer reportedly paid $200k to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' girlfriend's brother for batch of salacious text messages revealing Bezos' affair (More) | Background on the Bezos battle with the Enquirer (More)
Invest in the world's most valuable paintings. Want to own part of a $2M Warhol or a $6.3M Monet? Masterworks.io lets you buy shares in high-end and usually inaccessible art that has outperformed the S&P 500 by 250%+ since 2000* (More) |
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| Politics & World Affairs. |
| > Former Democratic National Committee chair Donna Brazile to join Fox News (More) | Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) calls for end to electoral college in televised 2020 presidential town hall (More) |
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| > Police arrest man after 8-hour manhunt in shooting that killed 3, injured 5 in Dutch city of Utrecht; officials "assume terror motives" but no official motive found yet (More) |
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| > Former White House chief economist during Obama administration, Alan Krueger, dead at age 58 in apparent suicide (More) |
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| In Depth. |
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| The Fertility Doctor's Secret. |
| The Atlantic | Sarah Zhang. Donald Cline specialized in infertility, a field that was relatively new when he opened his clinic in 1979. But in 2017, genetic data from Ancestry.com and 23andMe revealed that Dr. Cline was repeatedly donating his own sperm to the clinic's bank, ultimately fathering over 50 children. (Read) |
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| Walking Paris Underground. |
| Longreads | Will Hunt. Even though the underground route across Paris was only six miles, walking the catacombs takes days because the task is so risky and complex. Join Will Hunt and his team of urban explorers on a highly illegal trek underneath Paris, encountering droves of rats and other subterranean dwellers along the way. (Read) |
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"All that we don't know is astonishing. Even more astonishing is what passes for knowing."
- Philip Roth |
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